From showrunners JD Payne & Patrick McKay, the Amazon Studios multi-season drama series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth’s history, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and at a time when a terrifying villain called Sauron is looking to conquer the kingdoms, defeat the heroes, and gain control over all life. Following an ensemble cast of characters that are both familiar and new, the eight-episode first season is setting up an epic adventure that’s expected to take five seasons to conclude.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Maxim Baldry (who plays the Númenórean named Isildur) talked about what his first day on set was like, how different he felt bout his character by the end of the season, how he most deeply connects to Isildur, the role grief plays in his story arc, what he’d like to be able to dig deeper into, and the little detail that he always has with him.
COLLIDER: With a project like this, it seems like it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been acting or how many other jobs you’ve had, you have to just jump in the deep end because nothing can fully prepare you for it.
MAXIM BALDRY: Yeah.
What was the first day like? What was it like to walk onto this set for the first time?
BALDRY: We actually drove to a beautiful part of New Zealand, to the Coromandel, and we were shooting on a beach. I realized it was the first time we were ever going to see a Númenórean Coastline, which is the island that my character is from, and it was just a surreal experience, full of excitement and also nerves. It was nerve-wracking to be on something of this scale. There were drones flying overhead. There were four cameras. There were about a hundred extras. I remembered, at that moment, that I just needed to just play an honest human truth, which is that my character was a misfit. And I think I found my balance in just playing what I used to do, which was just normal human truth. That’s how I build it. That was my first experience and day on set. Everyone was so kind and giving. The showrunners, JD [Payne] and Patrick [McKay] were there. They were so collaborative and such great leaders, and they made us feel very comfortable and relaxed.
How did that compare then to the last day of filming for you? By the time you got to the end of the season, did you feel like you had a real sense of ownership of the character, that you might not have had on day one?
BALDRY: Yeah. The other thing is that we only got scripts up to a certain point. When I was filming, my first days on set, which was in episode three, I didn’t know what happened to my character at the end, and that made it difficult to plan ahead. The way that I overcame that was by being honest in the moment. I could only play the character in the scenes. I wasn’t thinking too far ahead. But then, by the end of the show, I definitely found out that he was funnier than I thought and more vulnerable than the warrior that I built up in my head. There was a bit more depth and humility to him, which I found out towards the end of the season.
On the surface, this show is a big, sweeping, epic fantasy, and there are all of these fantastical elements to it. But your character is grieving his mother and doesn’t have the best relationship with his father, which sound like the most normal, relatable issues. Is that part of what helps you stay connected to the character and who he is in this story, as opposed to all of these fantastical elements?
BALDRY: Yeah, definitely. I also felt I saw myself in him, which in turn made me think that, “Oh, my God, other people can see themselves in this character.” Everyone has a difficult relationship with their father, at times. Everyone is suffering grief, at some point in their lives. Everyone feels like they are in the wrong place sometimes. So, that connected me to the character. At times, there are these epic themes in the show, but I have the gift of portraying this family drama in a fantasy world, which is very relatable.
That grief and vulnerability that he’s experiencing, how is that going to affect his evolution this season?
BALDRY: We obviously know the signpost that Tolkien has written for this character, so we know where he ends up and we know where he goes. But the beauty of this show is that JD and Patrick are crafting the, how does he get between each signpost? How does he get between each thing? Tolkien hasn’t written that. He hasn’t really evolved each storyline, in that way. Every season, I’m learning new things about him. In Season 1, I’m finding out that he is a misfit on the island of Númenor, and that he is desperate for something else. He’s yearning for something truer, something deeper. He’s seeing his world evolve into this expectational, rigid world, and he’s like, “That’s not it.” When he’s given the opportunity to explore and travel, he jumps at it. That’s not in the writing. You don’t really read that in the writing yet. That’s something I found out, filming Season 1.
Grief like that is not something that he’s just easily going to get over. How is that going to shape him this season?
BALDRY: That’s a really good question because these are all elements that you will see in him throughout the decisions that he makes down the line. Season 1, and potentially Season 2, is a coming-of-age story. You’ll see him go from boy to man. You’ll see what responsibilities he has and the lessons that he’s learned throughout these experiences. You’ll watch him grow. I think it’s exciting to see the things that he overcomes, like grief. It may stay with him, but he’ll find a way through the problems. I always want to relate it to real life because we are emulating stories from life.
As human beings, you end up overcoming problems. In the face of adversity, we always come together, and we build and we grow. Isildur is an example of that. Things get taken away from him, and he continues to power through and shine at times. That is also indicative of the life that we sometimes live. It’s never easy. It’s never an easy ride. Isildur is trailblazing that and continuing forward, moving onwards.
One of the great things about this show and really about this whole world, in general, is that there are so many characters that all seem so compelling and interesting and layered, and there’s so much going on with all of them that we can’t possibly get to all of those details during one show. If you could have your own spinoff for your character, focusing on any aspect of him, what would you want to dig more deeply into or learn about him, that there might not be time to explore on the show?
BALDRY: I want to see his relationship before the show. I’d love to know about his super rebellious stage when he wasn’t fulfilling his father’s destiny. What was he like, kicking off and rebelling? That aspect, I’d love to see more of, in an alternate reality of the show. But I think JD and Patrick have written this well-rounded character, where you do get to see elements of everyone in the show, and it all cohesively works together and blends this rich tapestry of Middle-earth, which is the main character, in the show. It’s not in any individual. Middle-earth is the biggest character in the show, and you get to see flavors of it in everyone. You’re not really missing anything, in terms of the size and scale of the show. There is time for everyone in the show.
What’s it like for you, as an actor, to have a character where you do know the future, you know his fate, and you’re working on and exploring more of his beginning and his backstory? Does it feel different to approach a character in that way?
BALDRY: We know exactly where he’s going. But as I said, the exciting thing is how. We know where he ends up, but how does he end up? There are so many conversations in the minutia detail of when he does kill Sauron, where what happens in between that, and him destroying the ring in Mount Doom. And he never does that, but what are the conversations that go on behind it? That’s what excites me, and that’s what brings me closer to my imagination, and JD and Patrick, and having faith in them.
There’s such an incredible attention to detail paid in every aspect of this series, from the hair and makeup to the wardrobe to the sets. It seems like there’s no way, as just the audience, that we will ever see it all or know about everything there. As far as your costumes or the sets that you’re on, what most stood out for you, that we may not ever even realize, just from watching the show?
BALDRY: I have a necklace that my mother gave me in the show, that’s never really a focal part of any scene. I don’t think you really see it much. But for my character, that just connected me to my childlike self. Whilst I was creating this character, I always wanted to bring him back to his childlike self, and that attention to detail from (costume designer) Kate Hawley just informed the character and actually deepened my understanding of him.
It seems like those details would really help. When you walk onto this set, that’s just insane in its size, are those little things what keep you connected to your character’s humanity?
BALDRY: Exactly. Despite being on a ship, which is on a gimbal with water being sprayed and wind being blown in your face, and then being moved into a battlefield in full armor, that tiny little detail always deepened my understanding of Isildur.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to stream on Prime Video.